I reported recently that users leave SL for other grids but they always return for the shopping. Daniel Voyager’s investigation indicates user concurrency remained flat during the whole of 2012 and there was a decline in total regions. So does that mean the same people are coming and going? Buying and selling, leaving and little by little not coming back but finding a new life on a different grid?

Could be. I spoke with a confirmed OSG girl the other day who tells me they are getting their act together and it may be that some prodding from bloggers such as Gwyneth Llewelyn might have the effect of creating a larger market place on those grids. As she states, “…the ability to shop for quality content is more important than good technical support and proximity with the company running the grid.”

As the US Economy heads towards the fiscal precipice it seems so does SL. DV suggests that unless something changes soon, one thing he recommends is Linden Lab create a SL app for mobile/tablet platforms, to stem the tide of decline (31,000 in January, 28,000 as of his last exam, Dec 4 ) Second Life seeing a similar drop in the next quarter would put the number at around 27,000.

Daniel bases his findings on the SL Grid Survey, Hypergrid Business reports and other SL metric sources.

The Second Life economy remained stable in Q3 2011. We closed the quarter with some positive momentum, with a continued increase in registrations and a stable Linden Dollar exchange rate with slight appreciation, as well as a higher amount of Linden Dollars held by customers. Most other key metrics were consistent with recent levels.